Welcome back to Ask the Arborist, where we answer your tree questions and try to make winter a little less depressing. February and March might be your least favorite time of year—gray skies, frozen driveways, and a general sense that summer is never coming back—but for your fruit trees, this is prime time for pruning! That’s right, while you’re bundled up questioning your life choices, your apple and pear trees are eagerly awaiting their annual haircut.
Why Prune in Late Winter?
Late winter, just before bud break, is the ideal time to prune your fruit trees. The tree is still dormant, meaning it won’t waste energy trying to heal cuts while actively growing. Plus, without leaves in the way, you can actually see what you’re doing—kind of like giving a haircut before your hair turns into a tangled mess.
Pruning now encourages strong growth in the spring, improves air circulation (which helps prevent disease), and directs the tree’s energy into producing better fruit instead of just growing a chaotic mess of branches. So, if you want bigger, tastier apples instead of a tree that looks like it lost a fight with Edward scissor-hands, now’s the time to get snipping.
The Super Brief Basics of Fruit Tree Pruning
If you’re standing in front of your tree with pruning shears and no idea where to start, don’t panic. Here’s a simple guide:
Remove the 3 D’s: Dead, Dying, and Diseased : If it looks lifeless, sickly, or like it lost a battle with last year’s windstorm, it’s got to go. Think of it this way: your tree has been trying to keep those dead, dying, and diseased branches alive like a friend who won’t let go of a toxic relationship. It’s exhausting! Cutting them off frees up energy for the healthy, productive parts of the tree.
Remove The CAC’s: Clustering, Acute, & Crossing: Since the best fruit gets the most light, remove the CAC’s to allow the most light penetration. Thinking about it this way is the best way to start thinning the canopy- but don’t overdo it! You should only thin a maximum of 25% of a trees’ leaf bearing canopy. Any more, and you’ll stress it out like a bad haircut right before picture day!
Take a LITTLE off the top: Your tree probably has some tall sucker sprouts high in the canopy. If you have a long enough pole pruner, snipping these off will allow more light to reach the rest of the tree. Just stick to the smaller branches—taking off anything big can stress out the tree (and you). And for the love of gravity, be careful or you’ll end up on one of those tree trimming fail videos on YouTube!
A Final Word of Encouragement
Pruning might seem intimidating, but remember: trees are forgiving. If you make a bad cut, they’ll survive. And if you really mess up? Well, at least you’ve got a good excuse to visit the farmer’s market this summer. So grab those pruners, embrace the late-winter chill, and give your fruit trees the trim they deserve. They’ll repay you with a delicious harvest—just in time for pie season.
